As always, divison games are tough. Two of the most heartbreaking loses this season were to divison rivals (Tennessee and Jacksonville). In order for the Colts to secure a winning record in the division, and keep the possibilty of home field alive, they must beat the Texans in Houston. That is no small feat, despite Houston's losing record.
The Texans have never beaten the Colts. Ever. As in, it has yet to occur. The Pope is Catholic. Bears crap in the woods. The Texans have never beaten the Colts.
Believe me, Texans players and coaches are very aware of this. They own the Jags, have beaten the Titans, but they are the whipping boys of the Indianapolis Colts. The Texans bypassed Reggie Bush and drafted DE Mario Williams because they wanted to build a defense that could beat the Colts.
Small side note: Mario Williams has 4.5 sacks and 40 tackles for his rookie season thus far, which is very good for a rookie DE. Meanwhile, Jesus in Cleats (Reggie Bush) is still averaging 3 yards a carry running the football. Translation: Taking Williams over Bush was a good idea. Bush stinks. Running backs that average 3 yards a carry suck hard donkey gonads. Yes, I know he has a lot of catches. If Bush were a WIDE RECEIVER, that would mean something. He was not drafted to catch the football. He was not drafted to return punts and kicks. He was drafted to RUN the football. Mario Williams, meanwhile, is doing what he was drafted for: he's getting to the QB and making tackles.
So, I feel it is a prime opportunity to applaud the Houston Texans for smartly taking Williams over Bush, and give a giant F YOU to the boys at Bristol (ESPN) for wrongly bashing the Texans. Yet another example of ESPN acting like the band of ignorant butt monkeys they are. Boo-yah, gents! You suck.
The Texans also got a very good rookie linebacker in DeMeco Ryans (137 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 INT). Teaming him with Williams and Dunta Robinson, and the Texans have a strong young nucleus on defense. Building a defense with young players like this is more important than getting Mr. 3 yards a rush. This is why NFL GMs do their job, and why moron pundits like Sean Salisbury at ESPN should just STFU.
The keys for the Colts are to run Joseph Addai (whose parents will attend the game) and Dom Rhodes (who is from Texas) at the young Texans. Run them early and often. On defense, the Colts must build on the Bengals game and keep Houston under 100 total yards rushing. They are going to want to run, shorten the game, yadda, yadda, yadda. Force David Carr to throw. And the Colts must limit their turnovers. No more dumb Special Teams screw ups that have plagued this team in recent weeks.
The Texans have a nice, young roster. As far as the future goes, guys like Vince Young or Maurice Jones-Drew don't scare me. A young, aggressive Texans defense does. And that is what they are building. Gary Kubiak has done a fine job with this young squad. They are finally moving in the right direction.